Steve Smith reclaimed the form that saw him terrorise England back in 2019, with an unbeaten 85 as the hosts were left to toil in the field on the first day of the second Ashes Test.

The Australian great tore apart England four years ago, scoring 774 runs at an average of 110.54, and there was a glum feeling around that he might have re-discovered that vein of form, after hitting just 22 runs across two innings in the first Test at Edgbaston.

He will resume tomorrow, with Australia 339 for five and fully in command of the match, despite Ben Stokes’ positive reaction to winning the toss and electing to bowl.

There was a moment for the meme-makers when after just one over of the Lord’s Test some Just Stop Oil protestors invaded the Lord’s pitch holding orange paint.

Full report from Lord’s, by Sonia Twigg:

“Obviously, an amazing day for us, could’ve been three down and made it an unbelievable day,” Marnus Labuschagne told Sky Sports.

“But still, you’re going to take that when you get sent in on a wicket that we thought had a fair bit in it.”

He hit 47 off 93 balls before being caught by Bairstow off Robinson’s ball.

England bowled themselves into trouble on day one of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, before two wickets in an over from part-timer Joe Root offered a late morale boost.

Desperate to produce a statement of intent after their tense two-wicket defeat at Edgbaston, the hosts failed to make the most of Ben Stokes winning the toss in helpful conditions as Australia reached the close on 339 for five.

It could have been much worse for the hosts but Root, asked to carry the spin burden alone due to concerns over Moeen Ali’s injured index finger, halted the tide just as it threatened to carry England away.

Travis Head had clattered 77 at better than a run-a-ball when he was stumped racing down the track at a delivery that started wide and turned even further from the bat, then all-rounder Cameron Green threw his wicket away for a duck in a vain attempt to slog Root down the ground.

Two cheap wickets in four balls did not completely mitigate two-and-a-half sessions of deeply uninspired work from a lethargic seam attack, but it did halt a 122-run stand between Head and Steve Smith that was quickly heading towards game-changing territory.

Smith remains at large on 85 not out and with the chance to bat England out of the match on day two.

Former Essex player Jahid Ahmed believes an investigation into his allegations of racism is deliberately being dragged out to protect one of the accused.

Ahmed, who spoke out in the week that a damning report highlighted entrenched racism in English and Welsh cricket, is convinced investigators want him to get to the point where he becomes exhausted by the process and gives up.

The 37-year-old came forward in 2021 to talk about his time at Essex from 2003 to 2009, saying he was called a “curry-muncher”, told he stank of curry and likened to a terrorist in the days after the July 7 London bombings in 2005.

The club commissioned an independent review, led by Katharine Newton KC, into those allegations plus claims of racism from two other former players, Maurice Chambers and Zoheb Sharif. Almost two years on, Ahmed says he has lost faith in the process.

Bairstow picked up the protester and carried him off the field to applause at Lord’s before going into the pavilion to change his shirt.

The protester released a batch of orange paint near the wicket after running onto the field, causing a delay of several minutes as grounds staff repaired the pitch.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the “swift hands” of Jonny Bairstow after England’s wicketkeeper carried a Just Stop Oil protester off the Lord’s pitch on the first morning of the second Ashes Test.

Bairstow took matters into his own hands when two men from the activist group ran on to the field armed with orange paint dust in a clear attempt to halt the match.

Gloveman Bairstow, a keen rugby league player in his younger days, ran to meet one of the protesters and lifted them off their feet before carting them over the boundary edge.

Having handed them over to the stewards, Bairstow headed to the pavilion to change his orange-stained whites, but his quick thinking may well have prevented a much lengthier delay to proceedings had the paint made it as far as the wicket.

England will have a new ball at their disposal in the morning, but they’ll need to snuff Australia out quickly. With the pitch already gripping, you fancy that Nathan Lyon will be a major threat later in the Test, and anything around 450 will put the tourists firmly in charge.

That’s if we get any play first up tomorrow, of course - the forecast isn’t particularly optimistic around the scheduled start.

“Sometimes here at Lord’s, it takes you a bit to get used to,” Labuschagne, who made 47, tells Sky Sports. “Obviously it is an amazing day for us - we could have been three down, which would have made it an unbelievable day, but still, you’d take that on a day like this and a wicket we felt had a fair bit in it.

“We didn’t have many batting meetings. Everyone knows their plans. Steve came out with a lot of intent, and then Trav has been doing this for nearly two years now, moving the game on.

“Obviously I didn’t get the big score I’d have liked, but it was nice to contribute and get us in the position where Travis could take us on.”

I do think this pitch will prove pretty good for batting, but there has been seam and swing throughout the opening day and England will be a little disappointed by their efforts today. They were a touch flat for much of it, failing to find intensity with the ball and in the field, resulting in another couple of missed chances. Ben Stokes may rue his approach to Travis Head - it was a fine counter-punching knock from Australia’s lively middle-order dasher, but could the England captain have given Joe Root an early go against the left-hander, or tried a short ball ploy sooner?

It looked a good toss to win for England under leaden skies this morning, but it has been a day dominated by Australia’s batters, making the most of an even pace pitch to score freely despite tough conditions. The openers laid the platform, with David Warner making a lovely 66, before Steve Smith shared sizeable partnerships with Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head to build Australia’s total.

Joe Root’s late double strike, prising out Head just as the attacking left-hander looked to accelerate a ton before drawing a wayward hoick to mid-off from Cameron Green, gives England a sniff, but Australia are ahead in the game.